Buying Property Together

Some things to consider...

Consider these situations  

Example 1: An adult child buys Property in his sole name, but his parents pay towards the purchase price.

 Example 2: Man owns Property. Girlfriend moves in and pays off his mortgage. Is the payment

• a gift? Who says?
• a loan? When and how is it to be repaid? With or without interest?
• the purchase price of a share in the Property? What share?

It is important to have a Memorandum of Gift, Loan Note or a Trust Deed to put matters beyond doubt. Otherwise, if there is argument bankruptcy or death, expensive litigation follows.

If the payer of money is to have a share of the Property, English law looks at it as a trust. The person(s) registered at HM Land Registry is (are) the Trustee(s) of the Property and he (they) hold the Property in trust for the Beneficiaries. The Trustee(s) may, or may not, be the same people as the Beneficiaries.

 

Here is a another common scenario 

Example 3 : Man and Woman buy Property. She puts down most of the deposit but he pays the mortgage and for improvements 

• The Trustees are the Man and the Woma n
• The Beneficiaries will be the Man and the Woman. But in what shares?

If they fall out and the Property is to be sold, what should they each get? Lawyers can charge £££ arguing that one! Get a Trust Deed done while you are still friends! 

Call, to set up a fixed fee meeting

• one of our Property Litigation Team, if there is an argument 

• one of our Residential Property Team, if you want to prevent one 

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• 0845 270 2511 

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